By: Gina

Gina — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 05:26:26 +0000

I agreed 90% w/Anne since my situation was slightly different. I’d lunch & dine there many times & was always satisfied. On more than two occasions I was w/Italians and Italians that Francesco knows (that probably helps). On one occasion I was w/my ex-Boss who lunches there periodically, so a familiar face to the servers. I took two out of town guests there for dinner last Sat (Le Croc was fully booked). These two had just placed an order of 2 containers of wine from two private vineyards in Napa to be shipped to Asia so they know their food & wine. When my friend query about the year of the Le Volte he ordered, the lady that brings the bottle advises us this is the “entry” level wine of Le Volte, and said they’ve a lot of better year(s) bottle of Le Volte in a somewhat condescending tone. When I asked how’s the oysters, the server made some sort of a shape w/his index finger & thumb – meaning what?? Didn’t answer my question so we didn’t even bother asking further. The food was barely ok, my guests tasted the scallop from my plate & commented that it tasted like the Chinese fishball (as in the Fishball noodles). When I speak Italian (short polite phases) to the waiter, he replies in Spanish!! The Osso Bucco could use another half an hour or more… The Don himself was totally occupied entertaining some young hot chicks at the bar so he never even come up to say hello or check on us. The dinner was well over $350 for 3 but no one greet us as we’re leaving; like Anne said, not even a single person said thank you or goodbye, and they’re not busy at the time. Though when I come back in from the rain to ask if it is easy to get a cab, our server (probably saw the good 15% we left), another server & the Matre’d all ran out to help fetch a taxi for us. The next night we were at a random hotel restaurant in Whistler & the food, service & price was superb, a far cry from the fame Don Francesco. My two friends said they’d never go back & I’m more than embarrassed to recommend and take them there. Needless to say, that will also be my last time visiting the Don.

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:18:24 +0000

My parents and their friends went to Don Francesco on Tuesday and were apalled by the service they received. First of all, the owner seemed eager to help when they entered the restaurant however, his attitude changed completely when they were leaving the restaurant. The whole staff were pretentious and were only interested in making money. They kept insisting that everyone order something more expensive on the menu which made them feel very uncomfortable. Shouldn’t people be able to order whatever they want on the menu? Also, the food itself was so salty it was almost inedible. In the end they were splitting the bill and the servers saw this and assumed that they were poor or something and so when they were leaving no one not even a single person said thank you or good bye and purposefully ignored them. I wonder how a restaurant can still be in business with this pompous and pretentious attitude. The walls are covered with pictures of celebrities and I guess those are the only kind of people that they want to serve. If you want to pay outrageous prices for food and wine and get treated like crap then I recommend this restaurant to you.

Comments on: Don Francesco Italian Restaurant on Burrard Street

By: Gina

By: Anne